January 16th Letter

Hey there! How are you? Well things are going pretty good here I do want you to know that I was dreaming of you on New Years Eve cause I went to bed at like 10:00 Lol. Yep it is a small world ...Elder Mulvayne(I don't have a clue how to spell his name either :))went to the singles ward in my first area and he was dating Wendy...remember Wendy? Anyway he is pretty cool.

Well things around here have been just crazy! Training is very tiring! I have no idea how it all gets done but it does somehow! Its like I am doing the same work but there is a lot more and I am twice as tired. It is wierd but I love it! It makes time just fly by. In fact I didn't hardly realize that a week had gone by and that I hadn't written you yet :) Don't worry I didn't forget you!! But our schedule has been nuts. Yesterday (Tuesday) we were in Spokane from 9:00-2:00 for a newbie pow-wow or in other words a new missionary training. That involved 5 hours of driving-two and a half each way. So we got back and ran to our members who were feeing us and ate then ran to a lesson(we didn't really run, we actually drove) and then went straight to another lesson and so things have just been nuts. Its great I have no complaints.:)

So we were in the meeting and Pres was talking about how when we talk to people we do what he calls "ask the inspired question." Anyway he share this one story about these 2 missionaries who were tracting and this lady comes to the door and she is holding a baby. The one elder talks to her about the restoration and she says she wasn't interested. Well before she shuts the door the other elder asks ma'am do you know where your baby came from? That got her thinking and they set up an appt. and went back and taught them. Well I was sitting there and I am like wait a second...that was ME! Lol that was me and Elder Everett talking to Tessa! Pres. said he didn't know how it all turned out but the elder that is in my old area said to him that that was me and he was shocked that he forgot who told him that! :) So I finished the rest of the story for him...it was pretty cool to have one of your spiritual experiences used for a training by president! But anywho we also had interviews last week and I absolutely love pres. He is so cool I am going to be sad when he goes home in July.

I am very sorry for no pictures! I will send some soon! I wanted to take some before we went to Walmart and my batteries were dead and we weren't home so I couldn't charge some. Sorry! I still love you very much if that helps any! Good luck with school! I hope all is well for you! Hang in there! Can you believe its been 1/3 of my mission today? Wow that is crazy. Well I love you and can't wait to hear from you! Take care!

Love, Elder Ryan John Penman

January 12th E-mail

well hello! mom i am glad to hear that you are doing well with recovery! Pres Clark was so nice he called me to tell me that dad had called and that everything went really well.. dad please call and let me (pres Clark) know how grandma does... i told him about the surgery and what not.. I will be praying for her and you as well mother! :D i am glad to hear that you have been reading your scriptures everyday! i will be out 8 months this week and so you only have 4 months left (in a sense) to be done with the BoM once... remember 2 times before i get back lol! but if you have been reading everyday then you should be pretty far along.. :D I know it has helped you as well mom! it helps me! if i didn't start my day off with 5 or so prayers before i walk out the door and a good 2 hours of study then i would have killed Elder Milk toast by now.. that's for sure.. but the Lord blesses me with patience and sharpness... (sharpness for the humbling of my companion on occasion...) so we had interviews this week and they went really well Pres asked me how Elder Allred was doing and then he said and give me details... so i did i told him that i had to "humble" him a few times and he laughed and said well how did you humble him and i told him how i did and it was very loving and straight to the point with no argument (pretty much my way or go back to Cali) :D and pres said he was proud of me and the way i handle things and that he feels in our stake we have very strong "senior" companions :D and that we will get the job done.. and he feels that my group i came out with is the backbone of the mission for the new president (coming in in like July) so that was cool to hear that he trusts me a lot and that he feels i am doing a good job... but this week my comp was acting about 5 years old and just being a real pain and so ( by the way he is terrible at arguing... i could argue with I'm about something i have no idea about and shut him doing hard core) I decided to play his little game and show him what its like to be around an idiot all day long... so everything he said i would dispute and he was getting really annoyed cause he couldn't do anything and i kept telling him he needed to grow up and that we could play this game all day... anyways (and this will give you an idea of just how he really is) i said well elder on a serious note i want to ask you a question... and he says no i don't answer questions on a serious note from Satan.. LOL!!! and i said so you are saying that i am Satan? and he looks at me and i said that wouldn't make any sense cause Satan cant tempt little kids... and he got pissed and wouldn't talk to me and i said see elder that isn't going to work with me i will win every time.... anyways (i know that doesn't sound very good but it was needed i couldn't hold back any longer...) but then that night i had to break him down and he kept interrupting me and i finally got up to him and said don't say a word and then he just sat there and listened...but trust me no matter how mean i sound.. he needed it and I'm going to go ahead and say that pres Clark approved it.. cause when i started telling him what was going on the only thing he said back to me was yep 19 of them came out and its interesting to see the variety of that big of a bunch. But anyways we didn't have a baptism it has been getting moving around 50 different times... but beside the point Al Cormack is doing great and we had an awesome lesson with him last night to where at first he didn't want to commit very strongly to the WoW but then we promised him specific blessings and offered a priesthood blessing to start things off... (he is a retired doctor who drinks coffee to help him get moving in the morning cause he has fibromyalga) that was probably horrible spelling but you get the idea.. but it was neat he is done with coffee. now we just have to teach him tithing and he is on his way... and this week the Mckinleys came to church for the first time.. its pretty cool deal they are an older couple (late 60's) and they have a daughter that is a member and their son-in-law is the girls basketball coach at Taylorsville.. i cant remember his name right now but i know him.. anyways its a small world... but hopefully they will be on-date this week.. they were planning on staying for the first 2 hours and then they enjoyed themselves and so they stayed for the third hour as well... i am excited about them he read the whole BoM in like 2 months... its pretty cool... he still says that "its hard to put down" talking about the BoM he cant stop reading it :D but anyways things are going very well right now! we had a very full week.. the best week that i have had since i have been here and so i thank you for all of your prayers! oh and by the way i didn't have to turn the shower on for Elder Allred all week! he is getting stronger!!! lol! well hang in there guys! don't let anything get you down! Heavenly Father loves you! and he wants the best for ya! thanks for all that you do for me! and i look forward to hearing from ya soon! love ya!
Elder Penman